Should Jussie Smollett Make a Comeback?

It has been five years since former Empire star Jussie Smollett had drifted from the spotlight until he has slowly been coming back in the spotlight after years since his alleged attack. However, many mixed with Jussie's comeback and aren't sure if he can be forgiven from the public.

Before Empire

Smollett began his acting career as a child model in New York City and later worked as an extra on the New York-shot movies such as Mo' Better Blues and New Jack City. Smollett debuted his acting career as Terry Hall in 1992's The Mighty Ducks. The film earned him and the cast of Mighty Ducks a Young Artist Award nomination. He continued to star in films and tv shows until 1995. He decided to leave acting to pursue his education at a catholic school. In 2012, Smollett returned to acting with the leading role in Patrik-Ian Polk's LGBT-themed comedy-drama The Skinny. He later guest-starred in the Mindy Project and Revenge.

Empire

After his glorious return to acting, Smollett auditioned for the role of Jamal Lyon, a gay musician and the middle son of Luscious and Cookie Lyon. Jussie was cast in Empire along with Academy Award nominees Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard as Cookie and Luscious Lyon, Trai Byers as Andre Lyon, and newcomer Bryshere Y. Gray aka Yazz the Greatest as Hakeem Lyon. Empire premiered on January 7, 2015. The series drew nearly 10 million viewers making it the highest television hit show on Fox. Smollett nailed the role of Jamal and received praise for his character as Jamal. While working on Empire and the televisions' soundtrack, he was signed to Columbia Records and on the works of his debut album.

His debut album Sum of My Music was released in 2018. His album didn't make it to the charts however Empire soundtrack topped the Billboard charts. The show continued for six seasons until 2020 but in 2019 it would be Smollett's last.

Alleged Attack

Before his attack, Smollett had received some nasty racist threats posted on his Instagram post. The message had a drawing depicting a stick figure hanging from a tree with a gun pointing towards it, as well as lettered magazine clippings reading "Smollett, Jussie you will die" and "MAGA"and also contained a white powder determined to be Tylenol. It was January 29, 2019, at 2 am, Smollett was going to Subway for food until two men wearing masks and red Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats approached Smollett attacked him saying homophobic slurs and racist slurs at him and said, "MAGA country", throwing a chemical liquid substance, and a noose rope around on his neck. Smollett contacted his friend/creative director about the attack. His friend contacted the authorities. Smollett was taken to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. On January 30, 2019, Empire fans, Jussie fans, the cast of Empire, celebrities like Viola Davis, Steve Harvey, Zendaya, Shonda Rhimes, politicians, and activists expressed support and justice for Jussie. Then-President Trump called the supposed attack "terrible" and Smollet's family expressed support for Jussie. The media sheds the light on Smollett's attack believing he is an innocent gay black man who was actually attacked by two racist white Trump supporters.

However, there were some errors during the investigation which had investigators questioned

1. It was too damn cold in Chicago.

2. How did the supposed attackers know where Jussie was located?

3. What trump supporter would watch Empire?

The Chicago Police Department started the investigation at the scene of the crime. They found a hot sauce that contained a bleach smell that was found by a journalist who was investigating the case. A surveillance footage shows two dark figures walking from the Two Nigerian-American brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who had worked as extras on the set of the television drama Empire were arrested.

After the two brothers were arrested, both were interrogated by the police revealed that Smollett staged the hoax and paid them to be the "MAGA attackers". The brothers claimed that Smollett did it to gain fame and for being underpaid on the show Empire. Another footage, two brothers had purchased the rope found around Smollett's neck at a hardware store in Ravenswood over the weekend of January 25, and were also seen in security camera footage in the clothing store where they bought gloves, ski masks, and a red hat that police said was used in the attack Smollett was arrested and charged for disorderly conduct for paying the brothers to stage a fake hate crime and filing a false police report. Smollett's defense team reached a deal with prosecutors on March 26, 2019, in which all charges were dropped in return for Smollett performing community service and forfeiting his $10,000 bond.

Years later

Years since Smollett's hoax incident, Smollett has been trying to gain his fame back in the spotlight. Smollett directed his first film B-Boy Blues based on a novel by James Earl Hardy. The film was selected at the 2021 American Black Film Festival on November 3, 2021, and received award nominations including a GLAAD award and is now on BET Plus. Two years later, Smollett wrote, starred, and directed another film called The Lost Holliday along with former Empire co-star Vivica A. Fox. Despite his controversy hoax, Fox and Smollett both promoted the film via media.

On the Tameron Hall show, Fox calls Smollett "family" despite his past alleged attack.

Taraji P. Henson, Jussie's former Empire co-star showed her love and support for Jussie and still contacts him.

Smollett still stands by his story of his alleged attack and maintains his innocence. He told Entertainment Tonight:

“I want to have all of these things in my life, and I don’t want to have a felony on my record for something that I didn’t do,” Smollett said in part. “That’s what we’re fighting for. I know that on the surface it probably seems like why doesn’t he just serve the time, why doesn’t he just let this go. It would be easier if I had in fact done this to say that I did it. I wouldn’t have spent almost $3 million of my own money. I wouldn’t have had a trial. But as a human being and as a man, as a Black man and as an openly gay Black man, I have a problem with letting them win on something they shouldn’t be able to. I’m a grown man and something happened. I can’t tell exactly what did happen, but I can tell you what did not happen. That’s what I have to sit on. No matter how much people are yelling in my face, saying ‘You’re a liar, you’re a liar.’ No, I’m not. No, I’m not. I don’t want them to believe that, but if that is what they believe, that’s on you.”

Honestly, I don't know if I should forgive Smollett for the incident because he has done a lot of damage that can't be undone plus it is too hard to understand why he would lie like that or pull a stunt like that and yet he sticks with it. Even though there is a lot of racism going on still and yes there are Trump supporters who are racist and Trump supporters who supported the racist aka "Trump" but seriously he was making everyone including the Black community and LGBT community look bad. The same way as Susan Smith, Sherri Pappani, and Carlee Russell. Smollett is a talented actor and singer but he needs to realize that it will haunt him for the rest of his life.

What do you guys think does Jussie deserve a comeback?

Comment below